Some translators who made a difference

Many writers reach stardom. Just think of Shakespeare, Moby Dick and J.K Rowling, amongst others. But can any of us name famous translators? After all, how popular would J.K Rowling’s novels be if there had been no translators to help her bridge her work to the rest of the non-English speaking world?
Harry Potter was published in at least 68 languages. One of the 68 translators is Lia Wyler who translated the novels into Brazilian Portuguese (it was also translated into European Portuguese). She was famously praised by J.K Rowling for her creativity regarding the translation of personal names from English to Portuguese. For example: In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she changed the name “Bob Odgen” for “Beto Odgen”. Bob in English is short for Robert whilst Beto is short for Roberto in Portuguese. Aside from translating this well-known series, Wyler has also translated authors such as Henry Miller, Margaret Atwood, Sylvia Plath and Steven King.
Although in the world of Spanish literature Jorge Luis Borges was an eminent writer who published books such as The Aleph and Fictions, many people don’t know he was also a translator. His first publication was at the astonishing age of 9. It was the translation of Oscar Wilde’s “The Happy Price” in an Argentine newspaper. During his lifetime, he translated literature from English, German, French, Old English and Old Norse (a North Germanic language) into Spanish. Amongst some of the writers he translated are: William Faulkner, Herman Hesse, Franz Kafka, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe and Virginia Woolf.
Gregory Rabassa translates primarily from Spanish and Portuguese into English. Some of the authors he has translated are Julio Cortázar, Jorge Amado and Gabriel García Márquez. It seems that Cortazar was such a fan that he advised García Márquez of his extraordinary works. Consequently, the latter waited three years for Rabassa’s schedule to become open so that he could translate One Hundred Years of Solitude. He later stated that the translation was in fact superior to his Spanish original.
If you want your novel to be translated by the next Gregory Rabassa, contact Trusted Translations for a free quote.